Officers of the Month: Brodie and Kubojiri 06-28-13

Aloha Exchange Club member John Stewart congratulates Kevin Brodie, 'Officer of the Month' for May, and Jeremy Kubojiri, 'Officer of the Month' for June.

Media Release

The Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawaiʻi on Thursday (June 26) recognized Officer Kevin Brodie as “Officer of the Month” for May and Officer Jeremy Kubojiri as “Officer of the Month” for June.

Officer Brodie, who is assigned to the Puna District, was honored for apprehending a fleeing felon who was attempting a carjacking after having just committed two home invasion burglaries.

On the night of May 4, a Hawaiian Paradise Park resident reported that an unknown man broke the window to his house while people were inside, entered the home and stole a laptop computer. Shortly thereafter, police received a report of another home invasion in the same neighborhood, where a man fitting the same description was breaking a window and had kicked in a door to enter a home while a child was home alone. The suspect removed a safe from the master bedroom, broke into a car in the driveway, and then rammed the house with his pickup truck.

During a search for the suspect, Officer Brodie heard honking nearby. He rushed to that location and discovered that the suspect, claiming he was a police officer, was attempting to take a vehicle from residents who had just arrived home. The suspect had opened the car doors, demanded they exit and give him the keys, and attempted to forcefully remove a pregnant woman.

Officer Brodie subdued and secured the suspect and conducted further investigation that led to charges for two counts of burglary, two counts of unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, criminal property damage, resisting an order to stop, phone ripping and impersonating a police officer.

Officer Kubojiri, was recognized for his performance of a special assignment as South Hilo Patrol’s drunk driving enforcement officer in response to the high number of alcohol- and drug-related fatalities in Hawai‘i County over the past several years.

For the period of February through April, Kubojiri made 27 drunk driving arrests, including one of a habitual DUI offender and four for drivers under the age of 21. During the same time, he issued 367 citations.

Additionally, as a field training officer assigned to prepare new officers for their solo assignments, Officer Kubojiri trained three officers during the month of May. While under Kubojiri’s supervision, those new officers initiated 11 drunk driving arrests, including two for drivers under 21. National studies have shown that under-21 drunk drivers are among the leading causes of alcohol-related fatal crashes.

In nomination papers, Lieutenant Melvin Yamamoto Jr. said the number of drunk driving arrests made by Kubojiri and the officers he supervised comprised 29 percent of all DUI arrests made by South Hilo Patrol for that period. “Clearly, Officer Kubojiri is imparting the importance of keeping drunk drivers off our roads to the next generation of officers,” Yamamoto wrote.

As “Officer of the Month,” both officers are eligible for “Officer of the Year.”

The East Hawaiʻi “Officer of the Month” award is a project of the Aloha Exchange Club of East Hawaiʻi.